Eyelet reservoir



F. A. RUMNEY.

EYELET RESERVOIR.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 21, 1920.

1,409,201. Patented Mar. .14, 1922.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

' FRED A. RUMNEY, OF CAMBRIDGE,

MACHINERY CORPORATION, OF NEW JERSEY.

[To aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that L'Fiznn A. RUMNEY, a citizen of the United States, residing at Cambridge, in the county of Middlesex and State of Massachusetts, have invented cer tain Improvements in Eyelet Reservoirs, of which the following description, in connection with the accompanying drawings,is a specification, like reference characters on the drawings indicating like parts in the several figures.

This invention relates to reservoirs for equipped are used extensively for supplying fasteners and more particularly for supplying twin eyelets. A twin eyelet is characterized by having two barrel portions side by side and adjoining a common flange or base portion. Eyelets of thistype anchoring hooks and eyes to articles of wearing apparel, and many manufacturers of wearing apparel are with eyeleting machines by which twin eyelets are applied to anchor hooks and eyes as aforesaid.

Heretofore the supplying of twin eyelets to thesetting mechanism has been unreliable and in many instances the hopper has failed to maintain va supply commensurate with the number of eyelets used, with the result that from time to time the raceway has become empty and i .;has been necessary to discontinue the setting of eyelets andto operate the brush, or whatever feeding device is provided in the. hopper, for a period suflicient to recharge the. raceway. This condition obviouslygrestricts the output ofthe machines and thereby causes an increase in the cost of eyeleting. Difiiculties due to feeding tw n eyelets from a hopper into a raceway areaccentuated by the peculiar form of the eyelets which prevents too many of them from assuming the position necessary to enable them to pass through the outlet port of the hopper. In order to discharge a twin eyelet from the hopper it is necessary for the eyeletto take a position such that one of its barrels will follow the other through the outlet port, and since relatively large por- .tion of each eyelettrails afte'rthe leading barrel it is reta'rded and disarranged by the brush or other feeder and also by the eyelets remaining in the hopper so that even though an eyeletniay once take the correct position 'foripassing through the outlet port itspo- .sition is, more often than not, changed so that its discharge is prevented.

Specification of Letters Patent. Application filed July 21, 1920. Serial No.

for discharge. In any A CORPORATION OF EYELET RESERVOIR.

Patented Mar. 14, 1922. 397,923.

In view of, the conditions and difiiculties above mentioned an object of the present invention is to provide an improved hopper by which twin eyelets may be supplied at a greater rate than they have been by hoppers as heretofore constructed. Accordingly a feature of the invention consists in providing a hopper with an interior guard formed and arranged to facilitate the discharge of eyelets. This guard is preferably arran ed adjacent to the outlet port and is prefera ly formed so as to shed immediately any eyelet that may be temporarily arrested by it. Its shedding effect, in many cases, results quickly in positioning'the eyelet correctly event it promptly clears the way for other eyelets approaching the outlet port so that in either case the shedding effect prevents an accumulation of eyelets such as to obstruct other eyelets that might pass through the outlet port.

According to the construction shown by the accompanying drawings the shedding of the eyelets is obtained by making the guard slightly thicker than the space between the barrels of an eyelet and by rounding the ad- Vance end of the guard so that eyelets that are temporarily arrested by it will rock thereon to one side or the other, as the case may be, and thus clear themselves from the guard either by taking the correct position for discharge or by advancing with the mass of eyelets remaining in the hopper. The feeding of the eyelets and the clearing from the guard may be accelerated by a movable brush arranged in the hopper.

The foregoing features and others are illustrated by the accompanying drawings and are hereinafter described and claimed.

In the drawings,

Fig. 1 represents a plan view partly in section of a hopper constructed in accordance with this invention and provided With a raceway and with a brush for agitating the eyelets therein;

Fig. 2 is a perspective view including a fragment of the hopper and a fragment of the raceway, a small portion of the annular wall of the hopper being broken out to disclose the guard leading to the outlet port; and

Fig. 3 is aperspective view looking upwardly at a fragment of the hopper including the outlet port and the guard leading thereto.

The hopper has a substantially circular a single stamping of sheet metal and maybebottom 10, by any suitable,

fastened to the means such as bolts 13 extending through holes in the bottom and-having heads 14" anchored. to the wall 11. "*Theflraceway 15 communicates with "an outlet port in the annular wall 11, and its cha'nnelfltiis of a suitable width'to receive '19 of said port.

the barrel 17 of twin eyelets such as those represented in Fig. 1. Each eyelet comprises a substantially fiat base or flange 18 and two barrels 17 projecting therefrom in parallel relation so that they may follow one after the other through the channel of the raceway while their bases or flanges 18'rest on thebottomof. the raceway. V

Theou-tlet port has a relatively wide portion 19 at the bottom and a relatively narrowportion 20 above, the wide and narrow portions corresponding respectively to the base and barrel portions of the eyelets. This port is preferably obliquerelatively to the wallin whi h it is formed, in order to obtain the maximum rate of discharge of eyelets due partly" to inclining'the hopper and the raceway and partly to propelling the eyelets toward the'outlet port by a rotary brush 21 which maybe driven by any suitable means and which-preferably would be rotated continuously in the direction indicated by the arrow in Fig. 1. As the eyelets approach the outlet port they are guided to it or deflectedaway from-it, as the. case may be, by a guardwhich stands'in the path of the brush 21. The invention is not restricted to any one form of guard but I have found that by making itin the form-of a tongue 22, as shown, very satisfactory results may be obtained, and such construction is economical fromthe manufacturing standpoint. This tongue as shown is riveted to the annular wall 11 and projects inwardly in oblique relation so as to lie substantially parallel and in confronting relation to the oblique surface 23 of the outlet port. The tongue and {the surface 23 therefore constitute a channel leading to the channel 16 of'the raceway and extending tangentially to the circular path of the tips of the brush 21 so as to utilize the propelling action of the brush to the greatest advantage to discharge the eyelets through the outlet port. As shown-by Fig.3 the tongue 22 occupies the same plane as the relatively narrow upper "part 20 of the outlet port andis'entirely above the relatively wide lower part Consequently-the bottom surface of the tongue is spaced from the bottom- 10 of-th'e hopper so as to overlie and clear the flanges of the eyelets that are correctlypositioned for discharge. The tongue is thicker than the space between the two ding effect of the tongue isalso obtained in part by restrictinglthe latter to a thickness no greater than the distance between the centers ofthe barrels of an eyelet. When an eyelet is temporarily arrested by the tongue as shown in Fig. 1 its two barrels bear on the rounded tip 24: while its base 'lies on the bottom of the hopper.- If the-1' arrested eyelet rocksto the right it"will enter the outlet channel in the correct position fordischarge but otherwise it will ro'ck'to the-left and will immediately escape from the tongue so as to give the next succeeding eyelet an opportunity to enter the outlet channel with or without a rocking motion to place it in the rightposition at the entrance to the channel One important advantage of the construction. shown is that the tongue increases the rate ofdischarge by correcting the positions of a' large number of eyelets that would otherwise be sufliciently out of position to beincapableof passing through the outlet port, while another important advantage of the tongue is that its shedding. efi'ect accelerates the escape of eyelets that have been temporarily arrested thereby so that the entrance to the outlet channel will never be 7 obstructed for a long enough period to prevent the raceway from'remaining charged to its full capacity.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new. and desire tosecure by Letters Patent of the United States is 1. A hopper for supplying twin eyelets, having an outlet-port, and means in the hopper arranged to prevent all'but correctlypositioned eyelets from entering said port, said means being thicker thanthe space between the barrels of'an eyelet so that the latter will be incapable of straddling said means. j

2. A hopper for supplying twin eyelets, having an outlet-port,'and a guard'arranged in the hopper so as to prevent .all but correctly-positioned eyelets from entering said port, said guard being thicker than the space between the barrels. of an eyelet so that the latter will be incapable of straddling the guard. f 7

- A hopper for supplying twinpeyelets, having an outlet-port,- and atong'ue arranged inqthe hopper so as to guide correctly-positioned eyelets -t o said-port and to prevent therein, the latter having an oblique sur be thicker than the space between t eyelet.

4. A hopper for supplying twin eyelets, having an oblique outlet-port, and an oblique guard in the hopper arranged to guide correctly-positioned eyelets into the port and to prevent all other eyelets from obstructing the port, said guard being thicker than the space between the barrels of an eyelet.

5. A hopper for supplying twin eyelets, having an annular wall and an outletort ace,

and an oblique tongue arranged in the hopper in confronting relation to said surface and spaced therefrom so as to form an obs lique channel of a width slightly greater than the diameter of one of the eyelet-barrels, the thickness of said tongue being greater than the space between the barrels of an eyelet.

6. A hopper for supplying twin eyelets, having an annular wall and an outlet-port therein, and a guard arranged in the hopper so as to form, conjointly with said wall, a channel leading to said port to guide the barrels of the eyelets, said guard being thicker than the space between the barrels of an eyelet, and means arranged to propel the eyelets so that those lying against the advance end of the guard will be removed therefrom.

7. A hopper for supplying twin eyelets, having an outlet-port in one wall, a tongme extending inwardly from said wall adjacent to said port so as to guide correctly-positioned eyelets to the port and to prevent all of an eyelet so as to shed other eyelets from obstructing the port, said tongue having a rounded tip ofa diameter greater than the space between the barrels promptly an eyelet whose barrels are temporarily arrested thereby.

V 8. A hopper for supplying. twin eiyelets, havingan. outlet port, means inclu ing a brush arranged to propel the eyelets toward said port, and a guard in the path of said brush and arranged toprevent: incorrectly positioned eyelets from obstructing said .port, said guard being thicker than the space between the barrels of an eyelet and havi a rounded eyelet-arresting surface forme and arranged to shed all eyelets pressed against it by the brush so that such eyelets will be correctly positioned and guided thereby to the port or else deflected into the mass of eyelets remaining in the hopper.

9. A hopper for supplying twin eyelets, having a bottom wall and an annular wall, the latter wall having an outlet port relatively wide at the bottom and relatively narrow above to emit eyelets resting on their flange-ends, and a tongue extendin inwardly from the narrow'part of sai port and spaced from said bottom wall so as to overhang and clear the flanges of eyelets entering said port, the tip of said ton e being formed and arranged to shed eye ets so as to position them correctly for entrance into said port or else to deflect them into the mass of eyelets remaining in the hopper.

In testlmony whereof I have signed my name to this specification.

FRED A. RUMNEY. 

